Book Summary, Creativity, Personal Growth

Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon – Book Summary & HIghlights

Show Your Work

About This Book

Want to share your creative work and get discovered? Read “Show Your Work!” by Austin Kleon. It’s a guide to being open, generous, and brave with your creativity and your process. It’s for anyone who wants to express their unique perspective and succeed in the digital age.

Show Your Work!

10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

  • Author : Austin Kleon

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Workman Publishing Company; Illustrated edition (March 6, 2014)

  • Language ‏ : ‎ English

  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages

Buy Show Your Work

3 Sentenses

  1. This book contains principles, insights, and perspectives that you can apply to your own work and situation.
  2. It challenges you to be more open, more curious, and more courageous in sharing your work with the world.
  3. It encourages you to think of your work as a process, not a product, and to share that process with others to attract attention, build an audience, and make connections.

5 Quotes

  1. "In this day and age, if your work isn’t online, it doesn’t exist."
  2. "Don’t think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine."
  3. "Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple."
  4. "If you want followers, be someone worth following."
  5. "You just have to be as generous as you can, but selfish enough to get your work done."

Who Is It For

Read this book if:

  • You want to overcome your fears, doubts, and insecurities about sharing your work.
  • You care about achieving your goals and creating value in the world through your work.
  • You want to learn how to be more creative and more connected by showing your work.
  • You want to find your voice, your audience, and your peers who share your interests and passions.
  • You want to have fun, enjoy the process, and make a difference with your work.

Actionable Takeaways

🧐 Think Process, Not Product

  • Embrace the amateur's mindset
    • Experiment, make mistakes, and have fun
    • Don't be content with mastery; always look for something new to learn
  • Document your creative process
    • Audiences not only want to see the outcome of your work but also those behind the scenes
    • Keep a work journal, take photos, record videos, and capture your thoughts and ideas along the way
  • Talk about what you love
    • "You can't find your voice if you don't use it."
    • Share your tastes, influences and inspirations
  • Teach what you know
    • Share your trade secrets, techniques, tools, and tips
    • Help people learn what you've just learned
  • Turn your flow into stock
    • Look for patterns and themes in your shared parts, and turn them into something bigger and more substantial
    • Example: tweets --> blog post --> a book chapter

🎯 Show Your Work Effectively

  • Tell good stories
    • The story you tell effects how people feel, understand, and value your work
    • Learn good structures from great stories, use simple language, be honest, and be empathetic
  • Share something small every day
    • Show what you're working on right now
    • Use social media sites to send out daily updates
  • Don't overshare
    • Be selective about what you share and how much you share
    • Be sure that what you share is helpful, entertaining, or interesting to someone else besides yourself
  • Keep a mailing list
    • Collect email addresses from people who want to stay in touch
    • Send them regular updates and exclusive content
  • Find your tribe
    • Don't worry about the number of followers; worry about the quality of them
    • Seek out your real peers who share your vision and mission; collaborate with them and learn from them

🧘 Deal with the Ups and Downs

  • Learn to take a punch
    • Don't take criticism personally or let it stop you from sharing; learn from it and move on
    • Don't avoid vulnerablity if you want to truly connect with people
  • Take breaks from your work to recharge and get inspired again.
  • Read obituaries
    • Remind yourself of your mortality and the preciousness of life
    • Don't waste your time on things that don't matter.
  • Don't be afraid to ask for money for your work
    • Simply ask for donations by putting a donate button on your website
    • Name a price that you think is fair
  • Keep going and enjoy the journey
    • Don't give up on your work or yourself
    • Try new things, explore new frontiers, and begin again when necessary

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *